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Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Soria Looks To Replace Mexicutioner Nickname

Royals closer extraordinaire Joakim Soria made a request (on Twitter, where else?) for a nickname change from the awesome "Mexicutioner" to something more positive. While I doubt people are confusing Soria with some drug kingpin's genocidal assassin, his reasoning for the nickname change is rather noble...

Statistics also show a sharp escalation in the murders. Mexican authorities estimate the death count last year topped 15,000.

“It is sad when you see your country like that,” Soria said, “and that nickname is a negative to the kids in Mexico. There’s too much violence. It’s really bad.

“I know I can’t really do anything about it, but the mind-set needs to change. People follow me in Mexico.”

Soria believes that when people in Mexico see the nickname on TV that "it's a bad thing." Okay, fine. I just don't think nicknames are that persuasive. When Mark McGwire was crushing homers, I didn't go out and add 50 pounds by eating McDonald's. Soria doesn't even really seem to want a nickname anyway...

Soria has no preference for a new nickname; he is only lukewarm, in fact, to the idea of one.

“I never compare myself to Mariano (Rivera) and Trevor Hoffman,” he said, “but they don’t have a nickname. The only name that matters for Mariano is Mariano. He doesn’t need a nickname.

“I don’t compare to him, but I want to follow him in the way he has a great career.”

Well, Mo does, in fact, have one of the greatest nicknames in the history of baseball. Unless we stopped referring to him as "The Hammer of God" and I never got the memo.